From 17th October 2026 to 17th January 2027, the MAR – Ravenna Art Museum – is hosting SUPREMALIA, a major solo exhibition by Nicola Samorì, curated by Denis Isaia.
Supremalia is the new exhibition project by Nicola Samorì, one of the most important Italian artists on the international contemporary scene. A journey through memory, matter and metamorphosis, in dialogue with the Canova casts in the Gipsoteca and with Ravenna’s artistic heritage, creating an experience in which past and present are constantly intertwined.
Ravenna is the city where Samorì developed his visual imagination, having been exposed from a very young age to the light of the Byzantine mosaics, the monumentality of the basilicas’ marble and the plaster casts in the Gipsoteca of the Academy of Fine Arts. Today, that connection takes the form of a unique exhibition project, designed specifically for the spaces of the MAR.
The title Supremalia is a neologism formed by combining the prefix ‘super’ – meaning ‘that which is above’, representing the highest level, excellence – with the word ‘malia’, which evokes charm, enchantment and that power of seduction that is hard to resist. The title thus encapsulates the idea of seduction elevated to its utmost intensity, in which attraction and desire become the very heart of the visual experience.
Painting, sculpture and material become tools for exploring memory, the transformation of images and the persistence of tradition within contemporary sensibilities. The exhibition layout guides visitors through an immersive experience across the first-floor galleries of the museum, where historical works and pieces created partly for this occasion engage in a continuous interplay of references.
The dialogue with Canova, with the great figurative tradition and with Ravenna’s artistic identity results in an intense exhibition, capable of conveying the power of material, the fragility of the body and time as an element of constant metamorphosis.
